RIFLE RANGE BOY

"Daily Mail" True Crime: Classic, Rare and Unseen(2009) By Tim Hill Sometimes, we wonder why is it that, human beings have a fascination towards murder and other heinous crimes. Just have a look at almost all prime time TV shows. They all feature killings and evil as their central pillar. Anyway, with the blurring of what used to be prime time and since now TV is on 24/7 and is cheap and is available all rooms of the house (include the toilet), the concept of prime time where the whole family would sit together after their dinner is not existent. That propagated mini-series and soap operas that also include the above sins as well as other vices like infidelity, cheating and lying for good measure! In the old days when one has to wait a full week for his dose of crime, with the advent of cable TV, he is on a perpetual chronic overdose! In spite of the society's abhorrence to violence, the world we live in, animal or human kingdoms, is full of violence. In the ani...

Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) One thing I learnt after watching the film is that nostalgic memories should be confined only to the .avi and jpg files. We should not try to recreate the beautiful memories and spoil it. We can only pleasure ourselves by reminiscing the thoughts which seem so heavenly at that moment of time and space.The reasons I decided to watch this flick is twofold, the first being it is a Twilight Zone Movie - the black and white series that we enjoyed so much in RRF days and the second being Vic Morrow (again in RRF, we used to enjoy Combat! where he used to act with Rick Jason) is acting in it. Unfortunately, he died during the shooting of the film. TZTM comprise 4 segments- One original whilst three remakes of the stories of the original TZ. #1. Vic Morrow is angry for losing a promotion which was given to Jew instead. He meets up with in a bar and makes derogatory remarks about blacks, Jews, Orientals, Arabs and everybody for taking away his chances, ...

2010 The Year We Made Contact (1984) After leaving many unanswered queries in the '2001 Space Odyssey ', this film tries to pick up the pieces. The spaceship Discovery is due to crash into Planet Jupiter, hence there is urgency to retrieve the hidden data in HAL9000 to know what actually happened in the 2001 ill-fated space mission. Dr Delloyd (Roy Scheider), the disgraced former head of mission, in recruited in Soviet-US joint mission to Jupiter despite their country's differences and the ongoing world calamities as time was of essence.The trip takes ground literally and finally reached their destination. Enroute, they discover that there may be evidence of chlorophyll on Jupiter's moon Europa! After some scary feats, the US engineer who invented HAL manages to bring the computer to live. All the while, their probe into the mysterious monolith drew blank. The monolith later gets sucked into Jupiter and created a nuclear fusion! Meanwhile, Bowman, the presumed dead ...

Jab Tak Hai Jaan (Till there is life, Hindi;2012) I n keeping with the tradition which spans a time before RRF, Diwali is not over till after an Indian movie is watched, this year it is SRK's turn. The films on their part, in keeping with their own tradition, keep churning out convoluted non brainers devoid of Indian values in the name of entertainment and stress relieving temporary intoxication of music, dance, pretty people and scenery. Here too, location of shooting is 75% in the UK and the saree and bindi/thikka (pottu) are conspicuously absent too. Are the Indian movie watching public lost interest in the things deemed Indian? This film generated great interest, as during the post production time of the movie, the 80 year old thespian of a director, Yash Chopra, succumbed to dengue fever. In fact, to me, the most touching part of the movie was at the end. Live footage of an elderly  fit full of life jovial man seen mixing around with cast and c...

Laddu anyone? Something to sweeten your day! This is the picture that greeted readers of the international news today (Nov 22nd). A group of people distributing sweets to the public and in some places having street dances and lighting firecrackers because the law of the country had the courage to hang the Bombay bomber of 2008, 26th November, railway station massacre, Ajmal Kasab of Pakistan. Sure, his and his accomplices' actions have been the cause of many a teardrop and devastation to befall on the nation. This is not, however, the end of the 'tit for tat' action and reaction but just a trigger that would eventually leave the whole world blind. Ajmal Kasab The grieving siblings of the jihadist and the parents who had so much hope on this young man are bound to call for blood. On a short-term, the hanging could seem to pacify the widow of the constable who was killed in the tour of duty in apprehending Kasab and the family of the grieving victims. On a humanit...

There are many websites talking about plethora of subjects leaving us all spoilt for choice. The readers should develop the maturity to critically evaluate its content and to take things with a pinch of salt and not to gulp it whole like what a python would do. There is this blog on Hinduism which crossed my path as one often does when they float across the cyberspace. I thought it was interesting as it explained the relevance of various Hindu festivals, the significance of certain Hindu practices and such. Through it I came to realise that almost everyday has its auspiciousness. Some of the explanations were pseudo-scientific (looking from my nimble minded lens) in nature. For instance, one of the reasons why one should frequent the temple is that it would help to transmit positive energies to its devotees. The offered rationalization is that the direction of the construction of temples along N-S magnetic lines and the placement of copper under the deity generates positive vibes. ...

Yojimbo (The Bodyguard, 1961; Japanese) Director: Akira Kurosawa This 1961 period drama is set at a time before Meiji kingdom, in the 1860s, at the fall of the Tokugawa Dynasty at a time the Japanese realised that they were left far behind with the entry of Commodore Perry with his steam ship to Tokyo. (They were thought to be puffing dragons)! Anyway, this film is a period drama about the samurais who were jobless after the fall of their masters, Tokugawa dynasty. They were left to fend themselves with their sword and wit only. Yojimbo is one such samurai. While wandering aimlessly penniless walking as his feet led him, he lands at a once beaming silk producing village is chaos after two warring factions. One side is supported by the silk merchant while the other by the sake brewer. The samurai thinks that peace would be restored if both gangs perished. With his wit, he offers himself as bodyguard to either side, outsmart them, make them kill each other with carefully thought...

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) If you want to see a movie where 4 people get drunk on bourbon and brandy and go on talking and talking in circles and riddles for 2 hours, this is it. On the other hand, their talk is not gibberish mutterings of  drunks but all the outpourings of 2 frustrated middle class couples of their marriages which started with pomp and splendour but slowly degenerated to one pair who are constantly at each other's nerves and find pleasure in hurting each other real bad where it hurt most. In fact the whole film is a quarreling match on how the main character and his wife abuse each other with words whilst slowly unfolding their life tragedy. All this shouting and hurling earned this film 13 Academy Award nominations and won 5. George (Richard Burton), a history Associate Professor, staggers along in a drunken gait with his wife Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) to their home at 2am. Martha enters their home to complain about the dumpster of a house...

Mildred Pierce 1945 It starts with a scene of a man shot at repeatedly. Joan Crawford is stopped by a policeman trying to jump off an esplanade in an apparent suicide. She walks away and is called in by a guy to have a drink in a bar. She takes the guy home. The guy whom we saw shot at is in the study. Crawford leaves the guy from the bar locked in the house. He discovers the body, makes a dash out of the house when a couple of policemen nab him. At first look, it looks like an espionage film with one outwitting the other to escape the long arms of the law but, no it is not! It is a family drama, noir style! Mildred (Joan Crawford) is called upon to inform about the demise of her husband and is requested to come to the police station. At the station, she is told that her first husband, Bert is accused of murder. Mildred alleges that such a crime is not possible as Bert was the best guy she ever met. When asked how come she divorced him if he were so good, she started tellin...

This year's Penang Bridge International Marathon was a quieter affair than its usual pomp and lustre. Missing most conspicuously was the loud music and unnecessary announcement on the PA system which kept occupants of nearby hotels fuming mad. Maybe because this Bridge run is the last one on the soon to be the old bridge. This bridge which I had the honour of seeing its conception, development and expansion (to 6 lanes) has slowly attained its limit of capacity. In a way, this bridge, which was the brainchild of the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, has reached senescence gracefully and is now like in the case of a first wife who is soon going to lose her glamour and attraction to the soon to appear wife No. 2. The new wife, in this case, being the Batu Maung to Batu Kawan New Penang Bridge. Even though the Malay term for being left to marry another is 'madu'. Honey is also referred to as 'madu.' But believe you me, any first wife will vouch that it is no sweet ...

In a better world (Haevnen, Danish, 2010) This Danish Academy Award winning film in an unusual one dealing with complex issues. Two stories go concurrently told in present and past. It starts with a doctor, Dr Anton, in Sudan treating victims of atrocities of militiamen. He has a son, Elias, back home in Denmark who befriends Christian who saved him from some school bullies. Christian's mother recently died from cancer and he is upset with his father of not doing enough to save his mother. Elias' parents (Dr Anton and Dr Marianne) are in the process of separation. One day, while Dr Anton is out in town with Elias in Denmark, his brother and Christian, the good doctor tries to stop a fight between two boys. The father of the boy defends his child and hits Dr Anton. The boys are disappointed that he did not fight back. Dr Anton, one day, back in Sudan, receives the warlord who been torturing and killing people, with a maggot infested leg wound to be treated. In spite of o...

Suckling piglet, anyone? Just the other day, yours truly happened to gate crash into my cousin's friends' farewell party. The crowd had known each other for, like forever, ever since they were siphoned to a foreign land at an impressionable age to do good with their future. Just out of the confusing age of teenage years, shuffled into the turmoil era of the twenties, they had the scary sight of their whole future laid bare for them to mold. With the grace of the divine powers and help from some friends of the same boat, they sailed the rough seas. Amid the choppy waters and howling winds, they got across in one piece, shaken but not beaten. And boy, did they have heap of tall tales to tell of the journey. I came to understand that that is what apparently happened every time they meet up. All their university days' stories will be told and re-told and they would have a good laugh at it as if they are hearing it for the first time. And the free flow of booze helped in t...

A Clockwork Orange (1971) Director: Stanley Kubrik Stanley Kubrik is one heck of a director who seem put his hand in many various genre of movies. Just like many of his films, Clockwork Orange received contrasting reviews when it came out, ranging from being a pornography to a stroke of genius. Pretty soon they were in the same level as being a classic. The story is from Anthony Burgess' 1962 book of the same name. Alex is a socio-path teenager of a futuristic London who finds sheer pleasure in hanging around a milk bar and going around beating people up just for the kick of it. He plays truant from school and bullies his gang members too. One day as he and his friends were trying to hoodwink a lady to get into her house, the police is alerted. His gang members double crossed him and Alex ends up in jail alone. As his last victim dies, he is imprisoned for 14 years. He goes along with his chores in prison as a helper to a pastor. With his help, he manages to be a vo...

Scenes like this was common around Block G. The blended spice makers would be balancing their merchandise (masala) on their head, not potatoes as shown here. There was a time in RRF, when G Block was vacant for a long time. Later as the Kedah Road underwent some development programme, the bulk of its dweller were mass evacuated and placed in the lower couple of floors there. These people were initially were quite reluctant to vacate their Kedah Road ancestral homes but relented after much prodding. They were quite contended with their lifestyle and livelihood of selling grounded spices in the market nearby. Their ancestors, Mussalman from Thenkasi area of Southern India introduced the trade of aromatic freshly grounded blended spice for instant stomach tickling South Indian cooking. Their main reluctance of relocating being inability to continue using the mammoth wooden grinder with massive hand held wooden poles! They did not want the whole flat t...

Ikiru (To Live,Japanese,1952) Director: Akiro Kurusawa At first look, you know you are into something good. It starts with a Barium Meal film of a picture of stomach with a filling defect. The commentator, a bloke (San) with a razor sharp tongue and witty remarks, tells us that that Xray was that of a civil servant with gastric cancer but he does not know about his disease. Then the frame goes on to a sombre unfriendly elder gentleman (Kanji Watanabe) at his desk, doing his uninspiring work, like he had been doing for the past 30 years, stamping documents over documents at the City Council 's Public Affairs office. Even though his colleagues are jovial, cracking jokes amongst themselves, he as the leader stays serious. He is marking his time to retirement which is just 6 months away after toiling away 30 years in that department. The sarcastic commentator says that his life had literally ended when his wife died and he is now living a wasted life doing unproductive publi...

Andy Warho l Andrew Warhola (born as), Prince of Pop (August 6, 1928 -- February 22, 1987) By Jennifer Rosenberg, About.com Guide Who Was Andy Warhol? Andy Warhol was one of the most important artists of pop art, which became extremely popular in the second half of the twentieth century. Though he is best remembered for his paintings of Campbell's soup cans, he also created hundreds of other works including commercial advertisements and films. The Childhood of Andy Warhol Andy Warhol grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his two older brothers and his parents, both of whom had emigrated from Czechoslovakia. Even as a young boy, Warhol liked to draw, color, and cut and paste pictures. His mother, who was also artistic, would encourage him by giving him a chocolate bar every time he finished a page in his coloring book. Elementary school was traumatic for Warhol, especially once he contracted St. Vitus' dance (chorea, a disease that attacks the nervous system and m...

Mahanagar (Big City, Bengali; 1963) Director: Sathyajit Ray As always, Ray's drama portrays subjects close to the the structure and evolution of society. This time around he talks about the empowerment of women and their ascent to shoulder the responsibility of the family hand in hand with the culturally appointed head of the family. This story, which is as old as me, narrates the turn of events in the extended family of a bank clerk, Subrata (Anil Chatterjee) who works part time as tuition teacher to supplement his income to run his household. The people under his roof comprise his father, a sickly frustrated retired teacher, who holds strong to traditional beliefs; his mother, a devoted wife; his teenage sister (a teenage Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan debut); his wife Arati (Madhabi Mukherjee- also in Charulatha) and a young son, Pintoo. Seeing her husband working day and night to support the family and the increasing cost of living, the wife (Arati) starts work as a sales ...